Nobody can accuse the Japanese of being boring when it comes to their hobbies, interests, and obsessions. Anyone who dabbles in Japanese culture or frequents import shops can tell you that not only do the Japanese create all of the coolest toys, they also come up with some of the funkiest, craziest, and most off-the-wall stuff youve ever seen.

Circle Of The Moon, a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, is an obvious throwback to the "run-and-jump platform" games of the past. The surprising thing, however, is that the many years since its original 8-bit release has done little to diminish the indelible trademarks of the series.

By now, most Game Boy Advance owners should be comfortable with (or at least accepting of) reliving the past with the majority of releases 'revisioning' or outright porting the biggest hits of generations past. Konami helps this case of initial deja vu in its dark (in tone and luminance) Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon by mixing venerable 16-bit gameplay with an entirely new adventure.

The Dreamcast, however, had not been blessed with this genre of games until the release of Quake III Arena (Q3A) many months ago. That conversion was an excellent title, no doubt, but it fell short in many ways. Compared to the numerous play modes and 32-player deathmatches on the PC version, the limit of four players per match left something to be desired. Now that its PC rival, Unreal Tournament, has finally arrived for the Dreamcast, will it eclipse the id shooter?

Unreal Tournaments arrival on the Dreamcast is kind of a double-edged sword. Its great for the 3D-card-deprived to be able to experience the immensely popular PC shooter firsthand. Yet despite being a well designed game, gamers must ultimately tread through a watered down version of the PC incarnation.

rad and I are in almost total agreement when it comes to Namco's sequel. Like Brad, I too was impressed with what Namco was able to achieve graphically with Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. Though limited to a 2.5D perspective, Namco managed to create one of the more beautiful videogames released in a while and it is certainly one of the best-looking PlayStation 2 games on the market.

I'm very glad that Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil was released. Heck, forget released how about the fact that it was even developed? Its a good game, but my reasons for being so glad to see it run deeper than that. Its all about platforms, really.

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